Permethrin Harms Birds Image

It is the intention of the California Department of Agriculture to coat 3000 telephone poles and trees per square mile with the carcinogenic toxin, Permethrin. As a human being whose life has been immeasurably enriched by the companionship of wild birds, I am horrified to think of what will happen to the winged creatures I so love and respect following the application of this chemical.

Facts about Permethrin and Birds
Three-week dietary exposure of chickens reduced hemoglobin (oxygen carrying protein) levels, and red blood cell counts, while increasing the number of white blood cells. The reduction in hemoglobin occurred at the lowest dose tested, 33 mg/kg. Permethrin also caused decreased immune responses in chicks and damaged mallard ovaries.

Drive through any rural area in California and you will see majestic hawks, like the regal Ferruginous Hawk, shown above, perched on telephone poles and trees – the very places the CDFA is intending to coat with poison.

Here in California, the beautiful bluebird population has only just begun to recover from the fatal scourge of DDT. Little by little, these wonderful, colorful birds have fought off pesticide-induced extinction.

Throughout America, wild bird populations have been cut in half over the past 20 years because of pesticide exposure and habitat destruction.

A world without the song, the environmental benefits and the spiritual joy of wild birds seems to me a dead earth, and the CDFA is a shame to mankind for daring to further harm our precious bird populations with their dark ages approach to pest management. Their actions are infamous and unforgivable.

PLEASE read the following report compiled by Roy Upton on the toxicity of permethrin:

Roy Upton’s Permethrin Report.

Who Else Is Harmed By Permethrin?

Honeybees – Because of colony collapse, honeybees are quickly becoming one of the world’s most endangered species. Honeybees are responsible for the food you eat and the food farm animals eat. Without them, our tables will be barren of food – we are talking about a famine the like of which planet earth has never before experienced. Permethrin is a fatal toxin to honeybees.

Frogs – Permethrin is deadly to frogs. Frogs are currently experiencing the greatest extinction of any species since the death of the dinosaurs. Without frogs, world insect populations will explode. Without frogs, our world has lost so much that is so important.

Fish – Permethrin is extremely toxic both to fish and aquatic insects. The permethrin will wash down from telephone poles and trees each time it rains and it will fill our water sources with a toxin that is horribly poisonous to fish.

Cats – You know that your dear kitties climb trees and telephone poles for exercise and fun. Cats exposed to permethrin will be poisoned or killed.

You – Permethrin is incredibly toxic to you and many times more toxic to your children. This substance will be all over our neighborhoods unless CDFA is stopped.

Pyrethrins/Permethrins are the second most common cause of pesticide poisoning, after organophosphates, in the USA

CDFA is approaching 21st century pest management with a 1950′s toolkit and mindset. They are an embarrassment to the state of California and their actions are unconscionable in an era when human beings understand that it is crucial to protect wild life and human beings from pesticide exposure.

At least 750 wild birds were killed by the spraying of the Monterey Bay region in 2007. CDFA is already responsible for massive environmental harm. They need to protect themselves from further liability by calling a halt to this absurd pantomime of chasing a harmless moth across the state, poisoning and killing everything in their tainted wake.

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Read more about Permethrin here:

http://www.pesticide.org/PyrethrinsPyrethrum.pdf.